'Two girls confined, raped by 9 men for a fortnight in C'garh'

KORBA, CHHATTISGARH: Two teenage girls from Chhattisgarh's Koriya district were allegedly confined and raped by nine men for over a fortnight, police said on Wednesday.

The girls, aged 17 and 15 years, were rescued by the police on Monday from a spot near Bijuri railway station in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, they said.

The victims belong to Jhagrakhand area in Koriya located on the border of Chhattisgarh and MP, they added.

Koriya Additional Superintendent of Police Nivedita Sharma said, "On March 4, the main accused Abhijeet Pal alias Pinku (20) took one of victims, with whom he was having an affair, on the pretext of marrying her. A friend of the victim accompanied them."

Sharma said Pal, a native of Khongapani village of Jhagrakhand, took the two girls to a place in Khongapani and raped them.

"Later, Pal and eight of his friends repeatedly raped the two after confining them in Ledri and Bijuri villages," she said. Officials said a complaint was filed by the victims' families on the morning of March 18. The ASP said that a police team, on the basis of a tip-off, raided a place near Bijuri railway station in the early hours yesterday and rescued the girls.

Seven of the nine accused were arrested during the rescue, Sharma said.

They were identified as Ashraf Ali (26), Manoj Kumar (28), Hemraj Panika (20), Avinash (28), Jitendra Kumar Rai (26) and Rakesh Kumar Navait (23) apart from Pal, she said.

A manhunt was underway for two more people, she said.

They were booked on charges of gangrape, kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her to marry.